We must do everything for God’s glory and for the salvation of souls—“Even in eating and drinking do everything for God’s glory.”

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. September 19th, 2010

Today, Jesus keeps on the theme of faithful discipleship. He tells us a very interesting parable about a dishonest steward; however the situation is not so cut and dry. Our Lord here isn’t necessarily condoning the steward’s behavior; He is however, emphasizing and praising the steward’s shrewdness and effort; the steward tries to derive maximum material advantage from his “soon to be” former position as steward.

Let’s take a closer look in order to see more clearly just how shrewd was this unfaithful steward.

In the ancient Greco- Roman world, the rich man was most likely an absentee landowner, who owned the land as a business. He was most likely a foreigner from a country who had conquered the land he now owned. These foreign landowners would make loans to the local conquered people in order to make money off of them, charging them exorbitant interest, such as large measures of oil or wheat. The people basically had to pay to work the very land that used to be their own, becoming debtors in the process.

The steward’s job then was to make as much money for the landowner as possible, no matter what it took. So this steward in our Gospel was probably guilty of not exacting a great enough interest on the people in order to maximize profits. Because usury, that is interest on loans, was forbidden in the Jewish Law, this steward was in reality actually dealing somewhat fairly with the local people; this is probably what got him trouble.

The news of his leniency would have, of course, made it to the ears of the unjust landowner and infuriated him. In order to secure his profits, the landowner would come and remove the steward in order to replace him with someone who would maximize the profits by more effectively oppressing the poor borrowers with unjustifiably high interest. The steward knew then that he was about to lose his job and so he went around discounting even more the amount owed. In this way he was prudent and wise- both for trying to not exact high usury in the first place, and then for trying to gain even more friends who he would need when he was out of a job.

The people who listened to Jesus in today’s Gospel would have understood Him well; They were really in the same situation as the steward and the debtors of the parable, because they were a conquered people, conquered by the Roman’s who occupied their country. They would have sympathized with the steward because he was treated in an unjust way; after all he was just looking out for himself and his family. They would also have understood why the landowner recognized the shrewdness of the steward.

Jesus then addresses this crowd. He knew the thoughts of their hearts. It would seem that many of them would have actually have liked to be the rich landowner. In their desire, they had avarice in their hearts that is, a sinful desire and love for wealth. Perhaps, there were some that were even trying to justify their own unjust dealings with others. Either way, they had their hearts set on wealth as an end in itself; they thought the sole purpose in this life was to use one’s talents to obtain material goods and comforts. They wanted to be freed from Rome’s rule over them; however, not in order to serve God and neighbor more freely, but instead to be able to obtain more material goods and so live the good life of pleasure, comfort and ease. In other words, they wanted to use their freedom for themselves. In this, they were the dishonest servants because they failed to see that their refusal to serve God and neighbor in love, is the worst kind of slavery.

Jesus reminds the people and us, that we must serve God and neighbor with the gifts that come from God. He is pointing out that His gifts are not ends in themselves and that we are not to make them our end goal, or our gods. We are to use them primarily for God’s purposes in loving service to Him the giver of the gifts. This proper use of our gifts from God in service to Him has both a material and spiritual aspect. On the material side, we should use our resources to care for the poor, by working to bring about peace and justice in our society...this begins first of all in our parish family, for charity-love, begins at home and flows out to the wider community. On the spiritual side, we have to make a heroic effort to love and serve God totally and absolutely so that we can eventually be with Him for ever; then because we love God, we are to love and serve our neighbor, helping them to love God and be with Him forever as well...this too begins in our parish family, where we receive what we need to grow in holiness and love in order that we can be used to save others by leading them to God in the Holy Eucharist-Love in Person.

The Lord wants us to make as our primary concern, our growth in intimacy and friendship with him, better known as holiness and sanctity. And then in sanctity and holiness, living our lives in order to lead others to Him and His love, in order that they may be not only saved but enter into a loving union with Him as well, now and for all eternity. We engage in this service of love, with at least the same level of determination as that with which others engage in worldly concerns. And more, because, if you really think about, nothing on this earth is more important that saving our souls and being used to save the souls of others, both those we love and those of our enemies. All of our talents, all that the Lord as given to us, should be used primarily for this to lead others to the God who is Love.
God has given us all so many gifts and He waits patiently to see what we will do with them. Will we treat them as ends or will we use them as means. “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon." We must serve Him with all our heart, using all that He has given to us, whether it be our treasures, our talents or our time. We must direct everything toward Him: our work, our plans, our leisure, without holding anything back. Even the ordinary mundane duties of everyday life must be done for God, nothing is considered inconsequential.

The faithful steward is not one who lives with his head in the clouds, but the one who loves God and neighbor by struggling to be faithful in the little details of everyday life; it isn’t that He is perfect but that he is, with the help of God’s grace, striving for perfection, the perfection of love…to be perfect as Your Heavenly Father is perfect. Even little things if done for love of God become powerful and useful for our salvation and that of our neighbors; in fact, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” We must do everything for God’s glory and for the salvation of souls—“Even in eating and drinking do everything for God’s glory.” Our every thought, word and action must be directed to the glory of God and the spread of his Kingdom.

Jesus asks us this week to take an honest look at what we do and how we use our time, talent and treasure. Do we hide them and hope that no one will notice us? Do we week after week keep our gifts to ourselves and use all we have selfishly. Do we think, “Well, I really do not have the time to do anything for God or for neighbor, but after all, I do show up for Mass.----And what about the Parish family? Let's examine this more closely. Do I really help out in making our parish family a strong, active and loving place? Or do I just think that it's up to someone else to do it? Do we just take from our parish and not give of ourselves in return.
Because of our parish, our children are baptized, becoming beloved Children of the Father; our Christian Families are born through Holy Matrimony, marriage; our dead are given a Holy Funeral Mass for the repose of their souls and then buried with Christian dignity through the rites of the Church; and, we are given the greatest gift of all, the Holy Mass, which is the source and the summit of all grace, for the Christian life and for the life of the whole world.

In the Holy Mass our God gives us the gift of Himself. How can we not, in return to such a loving God, offer the gift of ourselves to Him in return. Love demands a response; answering this response fulfills the deepest aspirations of the human heart. This gift of ourselves is offered here at Holy Mass by and interior act of our will, in which heart speaks to heart. But then we must live that offering by our lives for others for love of God. This life offering begins with the little things, how we offer ourselves in love for our families, but most especially our parish family. This is shown by our actions, it begins by being faithful to Jesus by being faithful to our parish even in the little things. "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.

Let us then offer everything we have at this Mass, especially ourselves in order to adore and love God. Let us acknowledge our failure in the past to serve Him as we ought; let us thank Him for all the many blessings that He has given to us, especially the blessing of our parish family; and let us ask Him at this source of all graces-the Holy Mass, for the grace and the strength to serve Him single mindedly and faithfully all the days of our lives. Holy Mary, Mother of the servants of God, Pray for us sinners. Amen.